Fallone defends signing recall petition

Law professor challenging incumbent justice

A candidate for the Wisconsin Supreme Court confirmed he signed a petition for the recall of Republican Gov. Scott Walker, but said it would not affect his ability to judge cases related to the governor, should he win the court seat.

Ed Fallone, a professor at Marquette University Law School, is challenging incumbent Justice Pat Roggensack in the April 2 election. Justices serve 10-year terms.

Fallone's name was one of several hundred thousand on petitions submitted to the Government Accountability Board, seeking for Walker to be recalled.

"The act of signing a recall petition is the constitutional right of a private citizen," Fallone told WISN 12 News.

"There is no requirement, either under the mandatory disqualification provisions or the code of judicial conduct, that would require me to recuse myself in any matter involving the governor in the future," he said.

Walker's opponents succeeded in forcing him to a recall election on June 5, 2012, but Walker won the election over the Democratic candidate, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett.

In his campaign, Fallone has tried to highlight what he calls the "dysfunction" on the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

In 2011, Justice Ann Walsh Bradley accused Justice David Prosser of trying to choke her during an argument in chambers. Roggensack was a witness to the argument and reportedly physically separated Prosser and Bradley.

Roggensack has told reporters the justices are getting along fine now, and she pushed back against Fallone's court dysfunction argument.

"The dustup is certainly shocking, but I wasn't involved in it. I didn't do it. Doesn't it feel a little unfair to you that I'm getting tapped with this? It feels unfair to me, frankly," Roggensack told WISN 12 News.

"If I were before a judge and the judge were going to judge me based on what someone else did, I wouldn't think much of that judge. Yet that's what Ed Fallone wants the public to do," Roggensack said.